REMARKS 


OF 


HON.  EDAYARD  T.  TAYLOR 

OF    COLORADO 

IN  THE 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER  9,  1911 


INCLUDING  SPEECH 

OF 

GOVERNOR  JOHN  F.  SHAFROTH 

OF 


ON  CONSERVATION  OF  OUR 
NATURAL  RESOURCES 


21267 — 10486 


WASHINGTON 
1911 


EEMAEKS 

OF 

HON.  EDWAKD  T.  TAYLOR, 

OF     COLORADO. 


Mr.  TAYLOR  of  Colorado  said: 

Mr.  SPEAKER  :  At  the  meeting  of  tlie  Trans-Mississippi  Commercial  Congress, 
held  in  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  on  the  llth  of  last  month,  Gov.  Shafroth,  of  Colorado, 
delivered  an  address  which  so  forcibly  presented  the  rights  of  the  West  and  so 
clearly  exposed  some  of  the  evils  of  the  leasing  of  the  public  domain  that  his 
remarks  attracted  wide  attention  and  favorable  comment  throughout  the  coun- 
try. He  showed  in  a  masterly  manner  the  distinction  between  real  conserva- 
tion of  our  natural  resources  by  the  prevention  of  waste  and  monopolization,  and 
the  policy  which  makes  of  conservation  a  mere  mask  under  which  lies  con 
cealed  the  purpose  of  a  perpetual  Federal  ownership  and  interference  in  the 
necessary  use  and  development  of  the  country.  His  address  set  forth  so  forci- 
bly the  evils  of  bureaucratic  rule  and  the  infringements  upon  the  rights  of  the 
West  that  are  now  being  practiced  by  this  administration,  and  proposed  to  be 
extended  and  enlarged  upon,  that  I  feel  his  address  in  full  should  be  printed  iu 
the  'CONGRESSIONAL  RECORD  for  the  general  information  of  the  country. 

I  therefore  ask  unanimous  consent  to  extend  my  remarks  in  the  RECORD  by 
incorporating  the  address  of  Gov.  Shafroth  delivered  at  Kansas  City. 

The  SPEAKER  pro  ternpore.  The  gentleman  from  Colorado  asks  unanimous 
consent  to  extend  his  remarks  in  the  RECORD,  including  an  address  by  the 
governor  of  Colorado.  Is  there  objection? 

There  was  no  objection. 

SPEECH  OF  GOV.  JOHN  F.  SHAFROTH,  OF  COLORADO, 

AT  THE  TRANS-MISSISSIPPI  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS,  AT  KANSAS  CITY,  MO., 

NOVEMBER  15,  1911. 

MB.  CHAIRMAN,  DELEGATES  TO  THE  TBANS-MISSISSIPPI  COMMERCIAL  CONGRESS, 
AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  :  There  has  been  a  strong  sentiment  in  the  East  in 
favor  of  conservation  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  public  domain.  All 
rational  people  are  in  favor  of  such  conservation,  if  by  that  term  is  meant  pre- 
vention of  waste.  But  the  sentiment  has  gone  further,  and  has  assumed  the 
meaning  of  making  enormous  forest  reserves,  and  taxing  the  natural  resources 
of  the  public  domain  by  means  of  leases  of  grazing,  oil,  phosphate,  asphaltnm, 
coal,  and  mineral  lauds  for  the  benefit  of  the  Federal  Treasury,  and  of  making 
water-power  plants  pay  a  royalty  to  the  National  Government  for  each  horse- 
power generated  by  falling  water.  The  recent  conservation  congress  adopted 
resolutions  indorsing  such  a  policy. 

Fifteen  million  acres  of  land  in  Colorado  have  been  set  aside  as  forest  reserves 
and  9,425,239  acres  of  coal  land  have  been  withdrawn  from  entry  until  reclassi- 
fied,  and  on  reclassification  there  has  been  placed  such  enormous  values  upon 
the  same  (in  some  instances  as  high  as  $400  per  acre),  that  it  practically  oper- 
ates as  an  absolute  withdrawal  of  all  the  coal  lands  from  entry.  This  is  an 
21267—10486  (3) 


2029992 


enormous  area  and  is  equal  to  that  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Rhode  Island  combined. 

Most  of  these  forest  reserves  are  on  the  mountains,  situate  more  than  7,000 
feet  above  sea  level,  where  nature  has  decreed  that  large  timber  can  not  grow, 
and  many  millions  of  acres  are  above  timber  line,  where  no  timber  whatever 
can  grow. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  of  the  forest  reserves  in  Colorado  30  per  cent 
contain  good  merchantable  timber,  30  per  cent  scrub  timber,  and  40  per  cent 
no  timber  at  all.  Thus  TO  per  cent  of  the  forest  reserves  in  Colorado  have  no 
connection  whatever  with  forestry.  It  is  ridiculous  to  contend  that  these  re- 
serves can  be  reforested  in  Colorado,  because,  according  to  a  report  of  the  Agri- 
cultural Department,  it  takes  in  my  State  200  years  to  grow  a  pine  tree  19A 
inches  in  diameter  at  an  altitude  of  7,500  feet  above  sea  level. 

This  is  not  a  partisan  question,  as  President  Cleveland  set  aside  25.G86.320 
acres  of  forest  reserves  in  the  West,  and  President  Tnft,  in  his  message  to  Con- 
gress of  December  6,  1910,  declared  that  these  are  not  questions  pertaining  to 
partisan  politics.  Nine-tenths  of  the  Senators  and  Representatives  of  these 
Rocky  Mountain  States,  irrespective  of  political  affiliations,  are  opposed  to  this 
policy.  The  total  area  of  the  forest  reserves  established  by  the  Presidents  up  to 
this  time  amounts  to  192,931,197  acres. 

PUBLIC  DOMAIN  HELD  IX  TRUST  FOR   SETTLEMENT  BT   CITIZEN'S   OF  ALL  THE   STATES. 

Congress,  time  and  again  in  its  acts,  has  referred  to  all  of  that  properly 
acquired  by  the  National  Government  as  the  "  public  domain,"  and,  in  all  refer- 
ences to  the  same,  has  never  intimated  that  such  lauds  should  be  retained  in 
perpetuity  by  the  Government.  Until  recently  it  has  been  held,  as  its  name 
implies,  in  trust  by  the  Federal  Government  for  the  benefit  of  those  citizens  of 
all  the  States  who  will  settle  upon,  develop,  and  improve  the  same.  Not  even- 
residence  in  the  State  is  required  in  order  to  locate  a  gold,  silver,  or  mineral 
mine,  a  claim  under  the  coal,  timber,  or  stone  acts.  Certain  improvements  and 
payments  only  are  necessary,  and  the  work  can  be  done  by  hired  men.  The 
right  to  so  locate  claims  constitutes  the  interest  which  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  has  in  the  public  domain.  It  is  truly  a  domain  for  the  public. 

It  has  never  been  the  policy  of  the  United  States  to  make  money  out  of  its 
lands.  The  sums  charged  are  presumed  to  amount  to  very  little  more  than 
sufficient  to  cover  the  expenses  of  properly  regulating  the  disposition  of  the 
same. 

It  has  been  well  recognized  in  all  countries  that  they  must  have  lands  for 
colonization;  for  relieving  the  congested  population  of  their  cities,  so  as  to 
make  better  and  more  prosperous  citizens. 

The  people  of  the  original  States  obtained  title  to  their  lards  at  insignificant 
prices,  the  consideration  named  being  a  penny  or  a  peppercorn. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Government  the  original  States  owned  all  the  lands 
extending  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Mississippi  River.  The  States  recognized 
that  all  of  this  western  territory  should  be  inhabited  and  erected  into  prosperous 
States,  so  that  wealth  could  be  added  to  the  country,  and  a  force  of  brave  and 
patriotic  citizens  be  reared  therein,  ready  to  respond  to  the  call  of  the  Nation 
in  times  of  need. 

The  original  States  granted  to  the  National  Government  all  of  that  territory 
lying  between  the  Alleghany  Mountains  and  tlie  Mississippi  River.  This  was 
done,  not  for  the  Nation  to  hold  in  perpetuity  or  out  of  which  to  make  profit, 
but  in  order  that  the  territory  might  be  speedily  and  properly  developed.  They 
recognized  that  the  lands  were  worth  nothing  without  people  could  be  induced 
to  settle  upon  and.  develop  them. 
21267—10486 


All  of  the  large  acquisitions  by  the  Government  have  been  paid  for  in  money. 
The  Louisiana  purchase  cost  $15,000,000;  the  Florida  purchase,  §5,000,000;  the 
Mexican  acquisition,  $15,000,000;  the  Gadsden  purchase,  $10.000,000;  and  the 
Alaskan  Territory,  $7,200,000.  They  amounted  to  1,849,720,587  acres  of  land, 
costing,  including  interest  paid,  $88,157,389.98,  or  an  average  of  4.7  cents  per 
acre. 

The  Government  has  constantly  pursued  the  policy  of  disposition  of  the 
agricultural,  grazing,  and  mineral  lauds  to  the  best  interest  of  those  people  who 
would  go  from  any  part  of  the  Union  and  settle  upon,  locate,  and  develop  the 
same,  and  it  was  not  until  during  the  last  8  or  10  years  that  we  have  heard 
people  seriously  contend  that  a  revenue  should  be  derived  for  the  National 
Treasury  from  the  leasing  of  these  lands. 

This  Rocky  Mountain  region  was  the  least  inviting  to  the  pioneer.  It  was 
Daniel  Webster  who  used  this  language  as  to  the  western  territory  which  we 
acquired  from  Mexico : 

"  What  do  we  want  of  that  vast  and  worthless  area,  that  region  of  savages 
and  wild  beasts,  of  deserts,  of  shifting  sands  and  whirling  wind,  of  dust,  of 
cactus  and  prairie  dogs?  To  what  use  could  we  ever  hope  to  put  those  great 
deserts  and  those  endless  mountain  ranges,  impenetrable  and  covered  to  their 
very  base  with  eternal  snow?  What  can  we  ever  do  with  the  western  coast,  a 
coast  of  3,000  miles,  rockbound,  cheerless,  and  uninviting?" 

The  Government  recognized  that  it  was  the  explorers,  settlers,  and  developers 
who  made  the  value  of  everything  in  a  wild  and  uninhabited  country;  that  if 
the  lands  were  not  exploited  and  improved  they  would  remain  as  worthless  as 
they  had  been  for  6,000  years. 

Under  this  general  policy  of  rewarding  the  pioneer  citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  public  domain,  thou- 
sands of  people  crossed  the  trackless  desert  for  California,  and  there  discovered 
the  richest  gold  fields  ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  world.  These  gold 
mines  were  upon  the  public  domain.  There  was  no  law  providing  for  the  loca- 
tion of  mines.  The  miner  locating  gold  fields  in  California  could  have  been 
considered  by  the  Government  a  tresspasser  and  liable  to  refund  to  the  Govern- 
ment the  value  of  all  the  gold  extracted ;  but  under  the  policy  of  the  Government 
as  to  the  settlement  of  lands  in  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Missouri  no  one 
ever  suggested  that  the  miner  was  not  entitled  to  the  fruits  of  his  discovery; 
and  the  miners  themselves  proceeded  to  frame  rules  and  regulations  as  to  the 
manner  of  locating  and  developing  the  mines.  These  rules  and  regulations 
afterwards  were  enacted  into  laws  by  Congress,  not  for  profit  to  the  National 
Government,  but  for  the  production  of  the  greatest  wealth  to  the  Nation  and 
benefit  to  the  citizens  thereof. 

Under  that  policy  there  has  been  a  development  of  the  western  country  un- 
paralleled in  the  history  of  the  world.  Three  billions  of  dollars  in  the  precious 
metals,  produced  at  a  cost  of  perhaps  that  amount  of  money,  but  turned  into  the 
channels  of  trade,  have  contributed  largely  toward  making  this  country  the  most 
prosperous  nation  on  earth.  It  is  the  increase  of  basic  money  that  has  always 
given  a  quickening  impulse  to  business  and  commerce.  An  enormous  develop- 
ment has  been  produced  in  all  the  other  industries  of  that  region. 

EOCKY  MOUNTAIN    STATES   ADMITTED   INTO  THE   UNION   AFTER   PUBLIC-LAND   POLICY   HAD   BKEX 

FIXED. 

It  was  while  this  policy  of  the  Government  of  holding  the  public  domain  in ' 
trust  for  the  benefit  of  those  ctizens  of  all  the  States  who  would  settle  upon, 
locate,  develop,  and  improve  the  same  was  thoroughly  recognized,  having  been 
21267 — 10486 


pursued  since  the  foundation  of  the  Government,  that  the  Rocky  Mountain  Ter- 
ritories each  applied  for  admission  to  the  Union.  The  act  of  Congress  enabling 
the  people  of  each  Territory  to  form  a  State  government  provided  that  "  the 
State,  when  formed,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  upon  an  equal  footing 
with  the  original  States  in  all  respects  whatsoever." 

At  that  time  no  power  existed  in  the  President  or  any  other  officer  to  perma- 
nently withdraw  lands  from  entry  or  location  either  for  agricultural,  mining, 
timber,  stone,  or  coal  purposes.  The  laws  providing  for  disposition  of  the  lands 
had  been  fixed  for  years,  and  no  officer  was  vested  with  power  to  change  those 
laws.  The  fact  that  all  the  laws  provided  for  the  settlement,  location,  develop- 
ment, and  improvement  of  all  the  public  domain  and  did  not  provide  for  the 
Government  retaining  any  part  thereof,  excepting  for  military  purposes  and 
purely  governmental  uses,  shows  conclusively  that  the  policy  was  intended  to 
be  fixed  in  favor  of  the  disposition  of  the  lands  as  against  the  perpetual  owner- 
ship of  the  same  by  the  Government. 

The  enabling  act  of  each  State,  as  did  similar  acts  of  all  the  States  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  provided  that  the  property  held  by  the  Nation  until  disposed 
of  should  be  exempt  from  taxation.  There  had  been  no  effort  upon  the  part  of 
the  Government  to  hold  in  perpetuity  lands  in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the 
people  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  had  a  right  to  presume  that  the  same  pol- 
icy would  be  pursued  as  to  the  new  territory.  Yea,  more,  this  fixed  policy  con- 
stituted a  construction  which  the  National  Government  had  placed  upon  all 
enabling  acts,  inducing  settlement  and  development,  and  thereby  had  made  it 
an  implied  agreement  with  the  Western  States  admitted  thereafter  into  the 
Union  that  lands  should  not  be  held  in  perpetuity  by  the  Government. 

Now  it  is  proposed,  by  bills  introduced  in  Congress  and  advocated  by  the  fol- 
lowers of  Mr.  Pinchot,  to  change  this  policy,  to  impose  royalties  upon  powers 
generated  by  falling  water,  and  to  lease  the  oil  and  phosphate  lands  and  the  coal 
and  metalliferous  mines  upon  a  rental  basis  payable  to  the  Treasury  of  the 
United  States.  No  other  States  have  had  their  natural  resources  taxed  by  the 
National  Government,  and  we  deem  it  is  unfair  that  the  people  of  the  States 
which  had  all  the  products  of  their  natural  resources  for  themselves  should  now 
require,  through  their  Senators  and  Representatives,  these  less-favored  States 
in  the  West  to  not  only  undertake  the  development  of  the  natural  resources  of 
these  States,  but  to  pay  into  the  Federal  Treasury  a  tax  upon  the  very  develop- 
ment thereof. 

LEASING     OP     NATURAL    RESOURCES     MEANS     PERPETUAL    OWNERSHIP     IN     THE    GOVERNMENT — i 
EXEMPTION    FROM    TAXATION    FOREVER. 

What  does  the  leasing  of  the  natural  resources  of  the  mountain  States  mean? 
It  means  perpetual  ownership  in  the  National  Government,  and  that  means 
exemption  from  taxation  forever. 

Perpetual  exemption  from  taxation  of  vast  territory  in  a  State  is  almost 
destructive  of  the  development  of  that  State.  It  is  an  injustice  which  it  seems 
to  me  every  fair-minded  person  must  recognize.  The  State  must  maintain  gov- 
ernment for  State,  county,  and  school  purposes  over  all  the  lands  within  its 
borders,  whether  reserved  or  not. 

In  the  West  the  taxes  upon  land  for  a  period  of  30  years,  including  reasonable 
interest  upon  each  yearly  payment,  amount  to  the  value  of  the  land.  Therefore, 
when  the  lands  privately  owned  must  pay  all  of  the  taxes  for  State,  county, 
and  school  purposes  it  is  equivalent  to  them  paying  every  30  years,  in  addition 
to  their  just  taxes,  an  amount  equal  to  the  value  of  the  public  lands.  Thus  the 
people  of  these  States  must  pay  for  these  public  lands  every  30  years  and  yet 
21267—10486 


never  own  a  foot  of  the  same.  Is  that  right;  is  it  just;  is  it  the  way  a  parent 
would  treat  a  child?  Is  it  a  compliance  with  the  enabling  acts,  which  provide 
that  each  State  is  "  admitted  into  the  Union  upon  an  equal  footing  with  the 
original  States  in  all  respects  whatsoever"? 

The  National  Government  was  formed  for  national  affairs  and  the  State  gov- 
ernments for  local  control.  It  was  a  dual  form  of  government,  a  partnership 
in  which  the  people  of  each  were  interested  in  and  a  part  of  the  other;  both 
were  necessary,  and  both  must  be  supported  by  taxes.  It  would  not  have  been 
right  for  the  States  alone  to  have  the  power  of  taxation,  nor  that  the  Nation 
alone  should  possess  that  power,  because,  by  this  dual  form  of  government,  there 
was  imposed  upon  each  certain  duties,  the  performance  of  which  required 
revenues.  Now,  would  it  have  been  right  for  the  States  to  cripple  the  National 
Government  in  the  raising  of  revenue,  or  for  the  National  Government  to  hamper 
the  States  in  their  exercise  of  such  an  indispensable  power?  The  power  of  taxa- 
tion is  the  most  important  of  all  governmental  prerogatives.  It  is  the  very 
foundation  upon  which  the  administration  of  law  is  builded,  and  without  it 
the  superstructure  must  fall.  It  is  the  very  law  of  its  being. 

At  the  formation  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation  there  were  no  powers  of 
taxation  given  to  the  confederation,  and  it  relied  for  its  existence  upon  contribu- 
tions from  the  States  which  formed  the  Union.  It  was  so  difficult  to  get  taxes 
from  all  of  the  States  that  it  became  necessary  to  dissolve  it  and  to  frame  a 
constitution  giving  powers  of  taxation  to  the  National  Government,  which  the 
States  did. 

The  National  Government,  then  and  ever  since,  has  exercised  the  power  of 
taxation  upon  imports  and  upon  certain  products  made  subject  to  internal- 
revenue  duties,  while  the  States  have  exercised  that  power  almost  entirely 
upon  lands  and  personal  property. 

In  the  distribution  of  the  powers  of  taxation  by  this  general  consent  the 
Federal  Government  has  obtained  great  advantage;  its  revenues  have  been  so 
enormous  that  it  has  been  difficult  to  devise  ways  of  spending  the  amounts  thus 
collected.  It  was  Senator  Aldrich  who  stated  not  long  ago  that  he  could  curtail 
the  expenses  of  the  Government  to  the  extent  of  $300,000,000  per  annum  without 
detriment  to  the  public  service.  The  States  being  principally  limited  to  taxation 
upon  real  and  personal  property  have  always  had  scant  amounts  with  which  to 
maintain  their  administrations.  Every  State  in  the  Union  is  now  limited  in  its 
work  by  reason  of  the  small  revenue  derived  from  direct  taxation. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  has  imposed  upon  each  State  the  duty 
of  maintaining  a  government,  republican  in  form,  over  all  the  territory  within 
its  boundaries.  In  order  to  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  have  full  sets  of  State 
officers,  of  county  officers,  of  township  officers,  and  full  sets  of  school  officers 
and  employees. 

When  we  consider  what  is  required  of  a  State  to  comply  with  this  provision 
of  the  Constitution  the  burdens  of  the  States,  in  the  aggregate,  are  much  larger 
than  those  of  the  Nation.  The  National  Government  supports  but  1  Congress, 
consisting  of  2  branches ;  the  States  support  48  legislatures,  composed  of  2 
houses.  The  Nation  supports  1  Chief  Executive,  while  the  States  support  43. 
The  Government  has  1  Supreme  Court ;  the  States  have  48.  The  United  States 
has  but  1  district  judge  in  my  State,  but  the  State  must  maintain  19  district 
judges  in  order  to  enforce  the  law.  And  all  this  is  done  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Nation  as  well  as  the  States.  It  takes  administration  of  laws,  both  national 
and  State,  to  make  a  Republic.  In  the  States  there  are  48  secretaries  of  state, 
48  auditors,  48  treasurers,  and  48  attorneys  general,  and  each  must  have  a 
large  force  of  employees. 
21267—10486 


8 

In  order  to  carry  out  tliis  partnership  of  government  it  devolves  upon  the 
State  and  not  the  Nation  to  maintain  a  university,  a  normal  school  or  schools, 
an  agricultural  college,  and  a  school  of  mines.  It  is  necessary  for  the  State 
government  to  maintain  a  penitentiary,  a  reformatory,  an  insane  asylum,  an 
industrial  school  for  boys,  an  industrial  school  for  girls,  a  home  for  mental 
defectives,  a  home  for  dependent  children,  an  educational  institution  for  the 
deaf  and  blind,  a  workshop  for  the  blind,  an  immigration  board,  a  public 
printer,  a  land  board,  a  highway  commission,  a  cattle  inspection  board,  a 
metalliferous  mining  bureau,  a  coal  mining  department,  a  public  accountancy 
bureau,  a  tax  commission,  an  engineering  department,  a  board  of  charities  and 
corrections,  the  National  Guard  with  their  armories,  a  railroad  commission,  a 
bureau  of  child  and  animal  protection,  a  State  historical  and  natural  history  de- 
partment, a  health  board,  medical  board,  agricultural  board,  horticultural  board, 
labor  department,  oil  inspectors,  civil  service  commission,  a  State  library,  and 
supreme  court  library,  all  of  which  require  many  employees  and  an  enormous 
expenditure  upon  the  part  of  the  State.  Then  it  is  necessary  for  the  State  to 
meet  all  of  those  extraordinary  expenses  arising  from  riots  and  insurrections, 
which  in  many  of  the  States  amount  to  millions  of  dollars.  My  own  State 
recently  issued  bonds  for  such  a  debt  which  amoirated  to  $960,000. 

The  Nation  expects  the  States  to  provide  all  of  these  means  which  are  requi- 
site to  good  government.  But  these  are  not  all  the  expenses  required ;  each 
county  must  have  a  sheriff,  treasurer,  recorder,  assessor,  and  their  deputies; 
a  probate  judge,  county  commissioners,  constables,  and  justices.  Courthouses 
must  be  built,  jails  and  hospitals  erected,  highways  and  bridges  constructed  and 
maintained,  and  other  enormous  expenditures  must  be  made  by  the  counties. 

But  that  is  not  all.  In  order  to  maintain  and  have  a  State  government 
republican  in  form,  in  compliance  with  the  constitutional  provision  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  public-school  system.  It  is  the  intelli- 
gence of  our  voters  that  insures  the  safety  of  the  Republic.  The  Nation  is  as 
much  interested  in  the  intelligence  of  its  voters  as  are  the  States.  It  is  true 
the  Government  has  granted  some  lands  for  school  purposes  to  the  Rocky 
Mountain  States,  but  it  also  did  to  the  States  of  the  Ohio  and  Mississippi 
Valleys.  The  income  from  them  is  insignificant  compared  to  the  cost  of  main- 
taining the  schools.  In  Colorado  such  income  now  is  $1.38  for  each  eligible 
pupil  per  annum.  In  my  own  State  we  have  5.200  teachers,  instructing  168,798 
pupils.  The  public-land  States  of  the  Union  have  72,072  teachers,  instructing 
2,079,818  pupils.  Millions  upon  millions  must  be  expended  in  the  erection  and 
maintenance  of  school  bnildiugs.  What  a  vast  army  of  high-grade  employees 
is  it  necessary  for  the  States  to  pay,  and  what  an  enormous  burden  are  all  of 
these  duties  upon  the  State  governments.  If  State  and  Territorial  lines  were 
obliterated  and  the  National  Government  unital,  it- would  have  to  provide  for 
all  of  these  expenditures,  as  all  of  them  are  necessary  to  good  government. 

Is  it  right  that  all  of  these  expenses  should  be  imposed  upon  the  States, 
counties,  and  districts  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  for  the  purpose  of  main- 
taining government  over  all  the  lauds  within  their  borders,  whether  reserved  or 
not,  and  the  Nation  contribute  nothing  by  way  of  taxes  upon  the  millions  and 
millions  of  acres  of  land  which  this  new  policy  proposes  to  exempt  from  tax- 
ation forever?  Is  it  right  that  9,425.239  acres  of  coal  land  in  Colorado,  valued 
by  the  National  Government  at  about  a  billion  of  dollars,  should  not  contribute 
one  cent  to  these  expenses  of  government  so  necessary  to  the  Republic  itself? 
"  You  take  my  house  when  you  do  take  the  prop  that  doth  sustain  my  house." 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  no  one  until  within  the  last  few  years  has  had  the 
effrontery  to  propose  the  change  of  the  policy  of  disposition  of  the  public 
domain  to  that  of  perpetual  ownership  in  the  National  Government? 
21267—10486 


TAXING  THE  NATURAL  RESOURCES  OF  THE  WEST  PREVENTS  DEVELOPMENT. 

This  new  policy  would  not  only  deprive  the  States  of  the  means  of  raising 
the  necessary  revenues  to  establish  and  maintain  good  government,  but  in 
addition  to  that  injustice  the  advocates  thereof  propose  to  make  revenue  for  the 
Federal  Treasury  by  taxing  the  natural  resources  of  the  West.  By  so  doing 
they  propose  to  make  the  Mountain  States  pay  an  undue  proportion  of  the 
burdens  of  the  National  Government. 

It  has  been  estimated  by  the  Geological  Survey  at  Washington  that  there  are 
contained  within  the  boundaries  of  the  State  of  Colorado  371,000,000,000  tons 
of  coal.  More  than  three-fourths  of  this  coal  is  upon  the  public  domain.  If 
a  rental  of  10  cents  a  ton  is  to  be  imposed  upon  that  natural  resources  of  the 
State  of  Colorado,  it  would  mean  ultimately  that  the  citizens  of  our  State  must 
contribute  $27,000,000,000  to  the  Federal  Treasury.  This  tax  is  advocated  on 
the  ground  that  it  will  prevent  waste.  According  to  this  geological  report 
Colorado  alone  has  sufficient  coal  to  supply  the  world,  at  the  present  rate  of 
consumption  (of  about  one  and  a  quarter  billion  tons  per  annum),  for  300 
years.  Although  my  State  is  now  ruining  11,000,000  tons  of  coal  a  year,  yet  our 
production  for  50  years  has  exhausted  only  one-half  of  1  per  cent  of  our  coal 
deposits. 

It  has  been  estimated  by  the  authorities  at  Washington  that  from  1,000,000 
to  2,117,000  horsepower  can  be  generated  from  falling  water  in  the  State  of 
Colorado.  If  the  Government  is  to  charge  $1  per  horsepower  as  a  rental  for  a 
temporary  right  qf  way  for  transmission  lines,  and  conducting  that  water  on 
Government  land  until  it  attains  a  height  sufficient  to  generate  power,  it  will 
mean,  when  this  power  is  fully  developed,  a  rental  to  the  National  Government 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Colorado  of  from  $1,000,000  to  $2,117,000  a  year.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  every  horsepower  generated  by  falling  water  saves 
the  burning  on  the  average  of  21  tons  of  coal  each  year. 

If  royalties  are  to  be  paid  for  the  extraction  of  the  precious  and  base  metals, 
other  millions  will  be  turned  into  the  Federal  Treasury  from  the  natural 
resources  of  our  State.  It  may  be  that  it  will  be  proposed,  as  is  done  in  the 
Forestry  Department  at  Washington,  that  one-fourth  of  the  receipts  will  be 
turned  over  to  the  State  treasury,  to  be  used  only  for  certain  purposes  to  be 
prescribed  by  the  Federal  Government.  But  is  it  equal  or  fair  treatment  to  our 
Commonwealth  for  the  Government  to  impose  any  tax  whatever  upon  our 
natural  resources,  which  it  has  never  imposed  upon  the  older  and  richer  States 
of  the  Union?  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  act  of  Parliament  of  Great 
Britain,  imposing  duties  upon  goods  shipped  to  the  13  colonies,  against  which 
our  forefathers  rebelled,  provided  that  the  revenues  derived  therefrom  should 
be  expended  in  America  for  its  protection  and  defense. 

All  taxes  upon  production  must  ultimately  be  paid  by  the  consumer.  Yea, 
more,  such  policy  means  that  the  people  will  have  to  pay  additional  prices  for 
such  products  far  in  excess  of  the  royalties  which  will  be  obtained  by  the 
National  Government.  It  will  put  our  people  at  a  disadvantage  in  the  struggle 
for  industrial  supremacy. 

Of  the  entire  Union,  the  mountain  State  of  Colorado  is  the  best  protected 
territory  from  foreign  invasion.  Even  without  a  navy  or  fortifications  no 
hostile  power  could  ever  devastate  our  fair  Commonwealth.  Yet  in  the  form 
of  import  duties  and  internal-revenue  taxes  we  cheerfully  contribute  to  the 
National  Government  our  fair  proportion,  even  if  those  revenues  are  largely 
spent  in  building  Dreadnoughts,  in  constructing  seashore  fortifications,  and  in 
being  prepared  for  war  against  a  hostile  nation.  The  last  Congress  appro- 
priated over  §200,000,000  for  those  purposes.  We  have  no  navigable  streams, 
21267—10486 


10 

yet  our  Representatives  in  Congress  cheerfully  vote  appropriations  for  improv- 
ing the  rivers  and  harbors  of  the  country  for  internal  and  foreign  commerce.  In 
the  Sixty-first  Congress  alone  these  appropriations  for  rivers  and  harbors 
amounted  to  $88,902,830. 

The  State  of  Colorado  pays  into  the  National  Treasury  more  than  $5,000,000 
a  year,  which  is  its  fair  proportion  of  the  revenues  of  the  Government  collected 
from  all  the  States  of  the  Union.  But  the  Western  States  object  most  strenu- 
ously to  paying  additional  millions,  the  effect  of  which  must  be  to  retard 
the  development  of  their  natural  resources.  It  is  bad  enough  to  be  compelled 
to  exempt  from  taxation,  until  disposed  of,  the  15,000,000  acres  of  forest  re- 
serves and  9,000,000  acres  of  coal  lands  of  the  public  domain  in  Colorado,  and 
thereby  make  us  pay  an  equivalent  for  these  lands  every  30  years  and  yet  never 
own  a  foot  of  the  same.  But  we  can  not,  in  addition  to  that,  consent  to  a  tax 
upon  our  natural  resources,  to  be  paid  into  the  Federal  Treasury. 

ROYALTIES     t'POX     WATER    POWERS. 

The  excuse  for  imposing  a  tax  and  terms  upon  the  water-power  plants  of  our 
States  is  that  Congress  will  prevent  monopoly,  whereas  the  State  governments 
will  not;  that  they  at  Washington  are  better  able  to  administer  local  affairs 
than  the  people  of  the  States  in  which  the  lands  and  the  resources  are  situate. 

It  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  represent  my  State  in  Congress  for  nine  years, 
and  I  and  all  other  Members  of  Congress  know  that  it  is  more  difficult  to  pass 
through  the  United  States  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  an  act  which 
will  present  monopoly  than  it  is  to  get  through  the  general  assemblies  of  the 
various  States  the  same  character  of  legislation. 

When  we  realize  that  the  National  Government  has  given  away  in  43  different 
railroad  grants  lands  aggregating  155,504,994  acres,  it  comes  with  poor  grace 
from  the  Federal  officers  to  say  that  they  can  conserve  and  administer  the  lauds 
better  than  the  people  of  the  States  wherein  the  lands  are  situate.  These  rail- 
road grants  comprise  an  area  equal  to  that  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Delaware,  West  Virginia,  and  Ohio  combined.  If  the  Western  States 
had  donated  to  railroads  one-tenth  of  such  grants,  such  action  would  have  been 
looked  upon  as  the  most  horrible  example  of  waste  and  extravagance,  if  not 
corruption,  that  had  ever  occurred  in  the  history  of  the  world. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  has  determined  time  and  again  that 
the  waters  belong  to  the  States  and  not  to  the  National  Government.  Congress 
has  only  jurisdiction  over  navigable  streams,  and  it  can  not  interfere  with  the 
use  of  the  waters  of  a  State.  In  accordance  with  that  belief,  laws  in  every 
arid  State  in  the  Union  have  been  enacted  providing  for  the  use  of  water  for 
irrigation  and  for  power  purposes.  The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
has  sanctioned  such  laws  and  has  held  that  they  have  always  been  in  existence 
as  laws  of  necessity. 

The  man  who  first  applies  the  water  to  beneficial  uses,  either  for  irrigation 
or  the  generation  of  power,  is  entitled  to  priority  of  right  to  the  flow  of  that 
water.  We  have  a  system  of  administering  these  waters.  Water  commissioners 
exist  in  70  water  districts  of  the  State  of  Colorado.  The  water  commissioners 
possess  the  power  of  turning  water  into  ditches,  according  to  their  priority  of 
right,  and,  when  there  is  a  scarcity  of  water,  of  shutting  down  the  headgates  of 
the  ditches  in  the  inverse  order  of  their  priority  of  appropriation. 

The  national  officials  now  recognize  the  ownership  of  the  water  in  the  States, 
but  in  order  to  get  some  jurisdiction  over  the  same  they  claim  that  inasmuch  as 
the  Government  owns  the  lands  lying  along  our  streams  that  they  will  not  grant 
21267—10486 


a  permit  or  right  of  way  to  a  power  company  to  conduct  the  water  along  that 
land  and  by  a  steep  descent  send  it  back  to  the  stream,  thereby  generating 
power,  unless  the  owner  of  such  power  plant  agrees  to  pay  a  royalty  on  the 
water  which  he  uses  and  until  he  makes  certain  other  terms  which  they  may 
prescribe.  This  is  simply  doing  indirectly  what  the  Government  can  not  do 
directly.  It  is  annulling  that  inherent  power  of  sovereignty  in  the  States  called 
eminent  domain,  by  which  rights  of  way  can  be  condemned  for  great  public 
enterprises.  It  was  Secretary  Garfield  who  two  days  before  he  retired  from 
office  revoked  40  permits  for  power  plants  to  transmit  their  electricity  across 
public  lands.  In  several  instances  the  electric  plants  had  cost  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  dollars  and  were  being  operated.  He  no  doubt  thought  he  was 
doing  right,  but  we  thought  he  was  doing  a  most  egregious  wrong  to  our  States. 

The  people  living  in  these  public-laud  States  are  more  interested  in  the  devel- 
opment of  their  water  powers  than  Congress  or  the  officials  at  Washington.  It 
is  they  who  ultimately  must  pay  the  penalty  if  monopoly  obtains  possession  of 
their  water  plants,  and  consequently  they  are  sure  to  be  more  careful  with 
respect  to  these  water  powers  than  the  National  Government.  The  fact  that 
water-power  plants  can  be  operated  every  5  or  6  miles  of  a  mountain  stream, 
and  that  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  States  there  can  be  generated  by  falling  water 
33,000,000  of  horsepower,  makes  it  almost  impossible  to  create  a  monopoly,  even 
if  there  were  no  laws  to  prevent  the  same.  But  it  is  absurd,  under  the  present 
State  laws,  to  talk  about  a  monopoly  of  the  water  powers. 

The  owners  of  these  water-power  plants  are  simply  public  carriers,  to  trans- 
mit the  power  generated  to  be  used  for  commercial  purposes.  They  are  ex- 
pressly declared  by  statute  in  my  State  to  be  common  carriers.  They  are 
identically  in  the  same  position  as  railroads.  That  the  rates  of  railroads,  or 
rates  of  power  companies,  can  be  made  reasonable  by  the  States  has  been 
settled  too  many  times  to  need  citation  of  authorities.  It  is  absurd  to  say  that 
the  legislatures  of  the  States  will  not  curb  and  prevent  excessive  prices  for  the 
transmission  of  electrical  power.  If  they  should  fail  to  do  so,  it  is  the  right 
of  the  people  in  my  State  to  initiate  statutes  which  will  compel  reasonable 
rates.  These  laws  constitute  the  guaranty  that  no  monopoly  in  charges  for 
electricity  could  possibly  become  permanent  in  the  State  of  Colorado. 

THIS    POLICY   WILL  PRODUCE   LAXDLOHDISM    AND  BLT.EACCEATIC   EL'LE. 

The  policy  of  the  Nation  holding  in  perpetuity  great  forest  reserves  and  coal, 
gas,  oil,  phosphate,  and  mineral  lands,  and  rights  of  way  for  water-power 
plants,  and  controlling  the  same,  is  an  interference  with  local  affairs  which, 
according  to  our  theory  of  government,  should  belong  to  the  States. 

It  was  the  late  Justice  John  M.  Ilarlan,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  who  said : 

"A  National  Government  for  national  affairs  and  State  governments  for 
State  affairs  is  the  foundation  rock  upon  which  our  institutions  rest.  Any 
serious  departure  from  that  principle  would  bring  disaster  upon  the  American 
system  of  free  government." 

The  permanent  administration  of  public  lands  in  a  State,  sovereign  as  to  all 
functions  except  those  which  were  delegated  to  the  National  Government,  is  an 
interference  with  local  affairs  never  before  attempted  in  the  history '  of  this 
country.  Such  administration  by  a  bureau  at  Washington,  with  its  thousands 
of  guards  imported  from  other  States  patrolling  these  gigantic  areas,  can  never 
be  satisfactory  to  the  people  of  the  States  in  which  such  lands  are  situate.  The 
bureau  will  always  be  controlled  by  officers  who  are  not  in  sympathy  with  the 
people  of  such  States.  Carpetbag  government  of  such  local  affairs  is  bound  to 
21267—10486 


12 

follow,  with  its  antagonism  to  everything  that  interferes  with  the  National 
Government's  control  and  use  of  these  reserves,  which  control  and  use  we  think 
are  so  destructive  of  the  development  of  our  States. 

The  Federal  bureau  can  not  want  settlement  of  lands  or  location  of  mining 
claims  upon  these  forest  reserves,  and  its  rules  are  and  will  be  continuously 
harassing  to  those  who  desire  to  settle  upon  or  locate  mineral  claims  upon  the 
same.  I  have  no  doubt  the  officers  and  employees  of  the  Forestry  Bureau  are 
honest,  but  representing  the  National  Government,  which  has  a  policy  antago- 
nistic to  the  public-land  States,  they  naturally  will  favor  its  side,  especially 
when  they  earnestly  believe  in  that  policy. 

When  timber  reserves  were  first  established  it  was  the  advocates  of  this 
forestry  policy  who  contended  that  it  was  impossible  to  maintain  forest  reserves 
and  yet  permit  the  ownership  of  private  property  within  the  reservations;  that 
the  right  of  access  to  private  lauds  through  forest  reserves  for  the  owners  of 
horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  other  live  stock  would  interfere  with  the  Government's 
use  of  the  same. 

It  was  not  until  Congress,  seeing  the  serious  interference  with  the  develop- 
ment of  the  Western  States,  enacted  a  law  opening  such  forest  reserves  to 
homestead  and  mineral  entry  that  the  advocates  of  this  forestry  policy  yielded 
upon  that  point.  It  *s  asserted  in  Congress  that  during  the  years  1907  and  190S 
the  number  of  homesteads  allowed  on  reserves  was  only  1,563,  while  the  number 
of  reservations  for  rangers'  lodges,  with  adjacent  land,  during  that  same  period 
was  3,227. 

While  it  was  well  known  that  Congress  was  going  to  forbid  the  creation  of 
any  more  forest  reserves  in  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Idaho,  Montana,  Washington, 
and  Oregon  without  its  consent,  the  Senate,  having  passed  the  measure  on 
February  25,  1907,  and  the  House,  on  March  3,  1907,  having  concurred  in  the 
same,  it  was  the  advocates  of  this  forestry  policy  who  circumvented  the  effect  of 
that  law  by  inducing  a  President,  on  March  1  and  2,  1907,  before  he  signed 
the  bill,  to  establish  by  proclamation  forest  reserves  to  the  extent  of  over 
30,000,000  acres. 

The  Forestry  Bureau  knew  full  well  the  antagonism  of  the  people  of  the 
Western  States  to  these  large  reserves,  and  yet,  while  that  bill  guarding  the 
interests  of  the  West  was  about  to  become  a  law,  forest  reserves,  mapped  out 
and  described  by  this  Federal  bureau,  were  established  at  its  request 

Every  time  these  foresters  see  a  tract  of  land  which  has  been  cleared  of 
timber  they  repeat  the  poem,  "  Woodman,  spare  that  tree,"  and  expostulate 
over  the  great  waste  of  that  natural  resource.  They  do  not  seem  to  realize 
that  every  stick  of  timber  so  cut  was  used  in  the  mines,  in  the  erection  of 
houses,  and  in  other  improvements  necessary  to  man,  and  that  the  use  has  been 
most  beneficial  in  the  development  of  our  country. 

The  timber  cut  upon  the  public  domain  in  uiy  State  is  infinitesimal  compared 
to  the  losses  by  fire.  It  is  not  profitable  to  cut  timber  except  near  streams, 
where  the  logs  can  be  floated  to  market,  or  where  a  railroad  exists,  which  is 
usually  along  the  streams.  The  lands  cleared  of  timber  are  mere  threads 
through  these  gigantic  reservations.  The  people  of  the  Western  States  have 
endeavored  in  every  way  possible  to  prevent  forest  fires,  but  the  most  deslruc- 
tive  fire  we  ever  had  occurred  since  the  Forestry  Bureau  had  full  control  of  the 
reservations.  Those  catastrophies  will  happen,  and  it  is  not  the  fault  of  either 
the  State  or  the  Forestry  officials. 

The  discouragement  to  the  prospector  of  mineral  lands,  by  reason  of  the  rules 
adopted  by  the  Forestry  Bureau,  has  been  so  great  in  my  State  that  there  are 
21267—10486 


13 

now  practically  no  prospectors  left.  And  yet  we  know  that  the  hills  of  our 
State  have  hardly  been  scratched  in  prospecting  for  the  minerals  therein  con- 
tained. We  believe  that  there  are  upon  the  public  domain  in  Colorado  many 
other  mines  as  rich  as  those  of  Leadville,  Cripple  Creek,  Creefle,  Aspen,  Tel- 
luride,  Onray,  and  Silverton,  and  that,  if  prospecting  were  encouraged  instead 
of  discouraged,  they  would  be  found  and  developed.  It  is  impossible  for  these 
reserves  to  be  managed  to  the  best  interests  of  our  people  by  a  bureau  adminis- 
tered two  to  three  thousand  miles  away. 

I  wish  to  read  an  Associated  Press  dispatch  as  to  the  supervisors  of  the 
Forestry  Bureau : 

WASHINGTON,  October  7,  1908. 

The  district  foresters  who  will  be  in  charge  of  the  six  field  districts  of  the 
Forest  Service,  beginning  January  1  next,  have  been  selected  by  United  States 
Forester  Gifford  Pinchot. 

They  and  their  headquarters  are  as  follows : 

District  1.  Missoula,  Mont.,  W.  B.  Greeley,  of  California. 

District  2.  Denver,  Colo.,  Smith  Riley,  of  Maryland. 

District  3.  Albuquerque,  N.  Mex.,  A.  C.  Ringland,  of  New  York. 

District  4.  Ogden,  Utah,  Clyde  Leavitt,  of  Michigan. 

District  5.  San  Francisco,  F.  E.  Olnistead,  of  Connecticut. 

District  G.  Portland,  Oreg.,  E.  T.  Allen,  formerly  State  forester  of  California. 

Why  is  it  that  in  the  great  State  of  Colorado,  with  its  four-fifths  of  a  million 
of  population,  with  thousands  of  citizens  familiar  with  our  forests  and  mines, 
the  Federal  bureau  should  have  to  go  to  Maryland  to  find  the  district  forester 
to  govern  the  reserves  of  that  Commonwealth?  Why  is  it  that  Mr.  A.  C.  Ring- 
land,  of  New  York,  2,000  miles  away,  must  be  brought  to  Albuquerque,  N.  Mex., 
to  control  the  administration  of  forests,  of  which  he  could  not  have  been  one- 
tenth  as  familiar  as  many  of  the  citizens  of  that  locality?  For  what  reason 
should  Mr.  Clyde  Leavitt,  of  Michigan,  be  imported  into  Utah  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  forest  affairs  there  when  there  are  thousands  with  better  knowledge 
as  to  the  preservation  and  care  of  the  same  living  in  that  State?  And  why 
should  Mr.  F.  E.  Olmstead,  of  Connecticut,  be  taken  clear  across  the  continent 
to  San  Francisco  to  control  the  reservations  of  that  Commonwealth?  Of  the 
six  district  foresters  not  a  single  one  appointed  was  from  the  State  in  which  the 
forest  reserves  are  situate.  Is  that  the  kind  of  rule  you  would  like  to  have 
imposed  upon  you? 

The  employees  of  the  forest  reservations  of  the  West  consist  of  243  forest 
rangers,  1,050  assistant  forest  rangers,  558  forest  guards,  2  game  wardens,  and 
6  hunters  and  trappers.  I  have  no  doubt  that  three-fourths  of  those  employees 
are  not  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth  in  which  they  do  their  work.  I  have 
heard  it  stated  that  the  former  chief  of  the  Forestry  Department  said  that  when 
these  reserves  were  scientifically  managed  it  would  require  100,000  employees. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  in  the  Declaration  of  Independence  our  forefathers 
arraigned  King  George  III  in  these  words :  "  He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  new 
offices,  and  sent  thither  swarms  of  officers,  to  harass  our  people  and  eat  out 
their  substance."  The  people  of  the  South  have  felt  the  effect  of  carpetbag  gov- 
ernment in  a  reign  of  misrule  and  corruption  uuequaled  in  the  history  of  the 
world.  It  was  that  experience  which  brought  the  American  people  to  a  realiza- 
tion that  home  rule  is  to  the  best  interest  of  a  State. 

AVhy  impose  upon  the  Western  States  a  rule  which  interferes  with  what  they 
think  are  the  rights  belonging  to  the  States : 
21267—10486 


14 

First.  Which  will  make  the  people  t>f  those  States,  by  taxation  upon  their  own 
land  for  government  over  ail  the  lauds,  pay  for  these  reserves  every  30  years 
without  owning  any  of  the  same? 

Second.  Which,  in  addition  to  the  burdens  imposed  upon  those  States  for  the 
support  of  the  National  Government,  will  compel  them  to  pay  millions  of  dollars 
into  the  Federal  Treasury  as  taxes  upon  their  natural  resources,  which  no  other 
States  have  been  required  to  do?  And 

Third.  Which  must  foist  upon  those  States  landlordism  and  a  bureaucratic 
control  of  these  great  reserves,  which  policy  in  the  administration  of  government 
has  always  proven  a  failure? 

Heed  the  advice  of  the  great  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court — let  our  Govern- 
ment be  "  a  National  Government  for  national  affairs  and  State  governments  for 
State  affairs,"  and  then  there  will  follow  a  development  of  the  resources  of  the 
Rocky  Mountain  region  which  will  be  the  marvel  and  wonder  of  the  world. 
21207— 1048G 

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